Stephen Roberts, Head of Sales at CMD, the office power, connectivity and ergonomics specialist, discusses the opportunity to sell on-desk power modules for a variety of installation environments.

After a year that turned old routines up-side-down, the start of 2021 brings with it hope that we can all get back to normal. But the disruption of the pandemic has changed the way we use our built environment and escalated the use of technology for both work and leisure. There are new trends emerging across the office, commercial and residential sectors, which means an opportunity for wholesalers to drive sales of electrical accessories that respond to evolving lifestyles.

On-desk modules

On-desk power modules are not new, but their use is becoming more widespread for powering and charging a greater array of devices than ever before.

The working from home trend that began during lockdown looks set to remain a continuing feature of many white collar workers’ routines, with flexible working to enable a mix of home and office work environments. We are likely to see more residential developments designed to accommodate homeworking, which will include the electrical fit out for workstations in a domestic setting.

While many have enjoyed working from home, others have craved a change of scenery and the hospitality sector is factoring this into new approaches to marketing hotel rooms. With occupancy rates low, savvy hotel chains are repurposing rooms as ‘day offices’, providing people with a quiet space where they can work in isolation. On-desk power modules can offer a discrete and unobtrusive power and charger function to convert a hotel bedroom into an office without the need for refits. It’s a solution that offers this new type of hotel client the connectivity they need, while providing a valuable source of income for hotel operators.

Aligned to this, we are also likely to see an increase in the number of co-working spaces; environments designed specifically to enable people to work away from the office and outside the home. Again, on-desk modules are ideal for plugging in quickly and easily to set up for work.

Getting it right

The first criterion for on-desk power module selection is what the requirement is at the point of use. Alongside sockets, modules should offer both type A and C adaptive fast chargers to provide versatility for use with any device. A module with 18w chargers is sufficient for fast charging of mobile phones or tablets and CMD’s Capsule on-desk power module is a stylish, off-the shelf solution that can be clamped to the desk or table offering a compact unit.

In many environments, colour co-ordination is also an important factor and capsule is available in black or white to suit the interior décor. The fixed format unit includes two empty key-stones for retrofitting of network sockets, HDMI and USBs if needed.

For installations where a more bespoke on-desk power module is required, specifiers and installers should be able to choose from the required array of international power, data and media connectors to meet the specification. Both the Harmony and the Contour on-desk power units from the CMD range offer this tailored approach and, because they are modular, they can be provided as compact units or larger banks of sockets for multiple functionality.

Agile approach

2020 was the year that challenged us all to be more flexible in the way we work and the way we think. The legacy of that is more agile working and the electrical wholesale sector must respond by providing the products that fit end-users’ changing needs.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

To see the wide variety of working from home solutions from CMD in more detail, visit https://www.cmd-ltd.com/